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Do I really need a new power supply?

Last response: in Components
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okay so I've been having issues lately with my comp freezing up or shutting down at random and have discovered its the power supply. I replaced it about a year ago when I got a new Graphics card the saphire 6570. It was a 500 watt supply by corsair. I plugged in the old supply that came with it which is only 250 watts and everything is running fine. The card says it required 400 watts. I'll admit I don't do anything super heavy or demanding as far as graphics. I really only got the card was because I wanted and HDMI output to use my tv as a 2nd monitor. Gameplay wise I play star wars the old republic. Should I buy a new power suppy?

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Yes you should be using at least a good 400watt PSU to run that thing. It may have run on a 250watt but I assume you weren't gaming with that? When idle PC components drain far less juice. If you were gaming and the PSU was holding up you have been very lucky.
Power supply Master
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animematic said:
okay so I've been having issues lately with my comp freezing up or shutting down at random and have discovered its the power supply. I replaced it about a year ago when I got a new Graphics card the saphire 6570. It was a 500 watt supply by corsair. I plugged in the old supply that came with it which is only 250 watts and everything is running fine. The card says it required 400 watts. I'll admit I don't do anything super heavy or demanding as far as graphics. I really only got the card was because I wanted and HDMI output to use my tv as a 2nd monitor. Gameplay wise I play star wars the old republic. Should I buy a new power suppy?

Without the rest of your specs that's a rather tough call
Then again, it's a pretty low power card

These guys use a highend overclocked I7-975 system for testing
http://techgage.com/article/amds_sub-100_line-up_radeon...

199 watts running 3dmark Vantage ( similar to gaming type loads )
~80% efficiency
~160 watt load or about 65% of a 250 watt psu's capability

Unless your running a system like the one used in the review you really have nothing to worry about
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